By the Pricking of My Thumbs
by Jemmaginary
Summary: When a foreign King from a distant land arrives to broker a peace treaty and offer aid. Merlin expects the visit to consist of him playing the part of the perfect servant and stopping Gwaine from drunkenly starting a war. Instead he finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy that threatens everything he holds dear as the King reveals he is hunting a dangerous sorcerer named Emrys.


**. By the Pricking of My Thumbs **

**Something wicked this way comes**_** .**_

**AN: **This is set to take place between Series 4 and 5 however the Sarrum does not have Aithusa and Morgana in his posession, nor has he ever.

**Summary: **After Morgana's attempt to take over Camelot a foreign King arrives to broker a peace treaty and offer aid. Merlin expects the visit to go like any other where he plays the part of the perfect servant, where he mostly imitates George and spend his free time trying to stop Gwaine getting into any drunken brawls with the visiting Knights and causing a political dispute or war.

Instead he finds himself at the heart of a conspiracy that threatens everything he has worked towards and in danger of discovery from his friends and foes alike. Merlin must avoid a magic hating King, witch finders, Arthur and a curious Gwaine or risk losing everything and as he tries to keep his identity a secret he discovers much more about himself and what being Emrys means than he had ever expected to. After all, when you are revered as both a saviour and a monster it's a fine line to walk to discover the truth after all - can the knowledge of what you could become damn you to that fate? Will the truth be revealed or will Merlin find himself becoming exactly what he fears in a quest to keep his secret?

**.**

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**PROLOGUE**

Being a tall man with a sword had it's uses when it came to shouldering, pushing and shoving his way through hoards and swarms and crowds of men. The central market of Amata was a busy place and men, women and children of every status gathered there. Highborns, lowborns, peasants, knights and servants alike all moving together through the market as traders called out their wares and buyers tried to haggle in an attempt to save their silver.

And although the markets of the Sarrums lands were no different to any other in most regards, carpenters and smiths selling their work whilst seamstresses and tanners sold theirs. Peasant farmers from outside the city walls selling their crops whilst healers from the apothecaries sold herbs and potions. Some of their wares certainly were unique to Amata and its people. Certain stalls occupied the spaces where in most Kingdoms, other than Camelot and Amata, sorcerers or druids would - calling out and promising weapons that worked against even the most powerful sorcerers. Selling items that would stop a man's magic before he could even utter a spell and stones that would alert you to the presence of any spell regardless of its power or crystals that would cure any curse, were all proudly displayed for the public to see and for the people of Amata to buy. Proudly promising protection to those with the means to afford it.

He suppressed a scoff at those as he passed one seller, their wares consisted of trinkets and toys - objects that wouldn't be useful in protecting against a strong gust of wind never mind a sorcerer. If there was one thing he knew of it was magic and how to guard against it. He'd watched as golden cuffs with rubies as red as the blood of those who wore them stopped a high priestess in her tracks, watched iron gauntlets and bronze collars turn a sorcerer's own magic against them. Observed as silver collars made by the finest smiths Amata had to offer bound a man's magic to whomever the buyer wanted. The trinkets on display would do nothing to save the people from the scum of their world, merely help them sleep at night and pretend the monsters that lurked in the shadows with human faces and the souls of an animal wouldn't be able to hurt them. As if a mere trinket could stop those with magic.

More extreme measures and specialised tools were needed for that.

Tools he possessed.

And even then, the only way to stop them permanently was with the end of a blade or with the flames of a pyre if they could be contained long enough. The latter was his ideal solution. It was always much more satisfying to see them writhe and struggle, fight against death with all of their might and watch as they became powerless and forced to surrender to it. Consumed by the flames until only bone and ash remained.

Unless of course he could use them, clip their wings and render them without a choice but to bend to his will. It wasn't his favourite method, he'd rather they were all vanquished from the surface of the earth but he couldn't deny they had their uses. Once something was powerless to do anything but what you ordered it to, it was so easy to persuade it to help you. Tell you what secrets those around you hid from the world, curse a troublesome household or burn down a rivals crops so he could watch them starve and take all they had. Even monsters could be tamed if you used the right methods.

And that was what his masters, his employers sought to do.

But not just to any monster.

They were after the prophesied King of them all.

He scanned the sea of faces in attempt to seek out the man he needed, he was almost at the edge of the market before he spotted him - standing off on the cusp of an alley was the man he sought. A dark cloth wrapped around his neck speckled with red spots, black leathers, a breastplate and two bronze vambrances - one on each arm. The Sarrum's golden boy, Albin.

"Madoc," The other man greeted though there was no real warmth to it. His voice was much like the man, cold and toneless. "I trust your pursuits have been fruitful." He waited expectantly and Madoc failed to stop the shark toothed smile flashing across his own features, this was the moment they had been waiting for.

"They have." He brought out a scrap of tattered cloth, once green it was now soaked red and stained his gloves as he held it. Albin took the cloth from him and looked at it appraisingly before unfolding it to find the treasure beneath. The solution to all of their problems. The solution the Sarrum had kindly loaned to him. He continued speaking as Albin examined the object in his hands, as if checking it was the real thing. "The druids were reluctant at first to explain it's uses, naturally, though I did get them talking. Eventually."

"And what about the man? The one we seek."

"They told me of him, where he resides." Madoc paused meaningfully and waited until the barest hint of impatience flickered across Albin's formerly impassive face before he continued. "It is as we suspected, he resides in Camelot."

"Truly? In the heart of the vipers nest? It is second only to Amata in their distrust of sorcerers alone, are you sure he would be so foolish as to reside there?"

"I am." Madoc once again glanced towards the tattered cloth in his hand and allowed his lips to curve into a smile, "Like I said. They were quite talkative once I got them going, one of them wouldn't stop talking about their precious saviour and how he would bring their precious magic back to the land. Practically out of the mouth of their babes that their saviour was hiding away in Camelot, a wolf in sheeps clothing."

Then a real smile appeared on Albin's face though it was not a pleasant one, red and sharp and lacking any real warmth or pleasantness. Madoc returned it with his own. "Then we have finally found him, our work has not been in vain."

"Imagine it Albin, if we can kill him the leader of all of the wretched monsters that roam this realm then we can truly vanquish them all. For once he is gone nothing can stop us. We could wipe the plague from the surface of the earth." Madoc's mind started to race as he imagined the possibilities. They would be able to complete their work and for that they would be greatly rewarded. He would want for nothing for the rest of his life.

"No." Albin intoned, smile gone.

"No?" Madoc failed to keep the shock from his face.

"You think he seeks to merely kill him? Slaughter him like some prized boar or stag? Place him on the battlements like the rest of them?" Albin shook his head and leaned in closer, "If we can collar him, bend his will to our own then all of Albion will belong to Amata. We cannot waste this chance by treating it like a simple hunt, a simple quest to kill yet another one of those monsters."

Madoc felt his anger rise but forced it down. Instead he inclined his head apologetically and kept his hand off of his sword, "Of course. I apologise for thinking so rashly."

Albin nodded stiffly before turning his gaze to the castle behind them, the jewel of Amata. "All is forgiven. I'll go inform the Sarrum of your news. You'll be greatly rewarded for this Madoc, you have my word. You'll have a position right beside me when we go to Camelot on this hunt."

"I can think of no higher honour," Madoc gave him a wooden smile and watched as Albin returned back to the shadows of the streets of Amata. Gone like he was never there. He turned back towards the market, facing the oblivious masses and letting himself straighten back up - practically vibrating with anticipation.

By the next full moon he would be in Camelot and then the hunt could begin.

Emrys was a dead man and Madoc couldn't wait to do the honours.

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**AN:** I know that most of you likely wanted to see more familiar characters but the prologue was important and it felt strange whenever I tried to merge it with the first chapter for the upload. Hopefully you enjoyed it and I've piqued at least one person's interest. The Sarrum and Amata have always been interesting figures and an interesting Kingdom for me as it's heavily implied that most Kingdoms aren't against magic the way Camelot is and then Amata was introduced as somewhere much much worse than Camelot with a leader who was similar but much _much_ more sadistic than Uther. The man enjoyed impaling men, women and children alike so I'm guessing that if the show wasn't a family friendly show in the way Doctor Who is and the show was then they could have explored the darker sides of the man they hinted at.

I also really enjoyed the Witchfinder episode and always wanted to see a return of the Witchfinders and that premise in general.

Next chapter will have a lot of Merlin and Gwaine friendship and a lot of Merlin and Arthur bromance/friendship. It's also much longer as typically my chapters, I've written nine so far for this, are between 4k and 7k at the least.

Hopefully you all enjoyed! Be nice if at least one of you left a comment with any thoughts/criticisms as this is my first Merlin fanfiction and my first fanfiction that isn't a one-shot.


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